In a thrilling opener on Thursday at Secret Garden in Zhangjiakou, north Chinas Hebei Province, Chinas Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic champion Su Yiming and Canadas 17-year-old Eli Bouchard set the bar in the FIS Snowboard Big Air World Cup qualifiers.
Su Yiming topped Heat 2 with 92.75 points, landing a flawless 1800 spin on his first attempt before securing first place with a perfect 1980 rotation on his second run. "This is the first stop of a Winter Olympics season, so there was definitely pressure," Su said. "My plan was to go for the 1980 on my first run, but in the air I felt the speed might not be enough, so I switched to an 1800. I'm very happy I was able to put down the 1980 perfectly on my second run. I have enough tricks prepared."
In Heat 1, Bouchard introduced a never-before-seen off-axis 1440 dubbed the "BouchBomb," earning 93.25 points. "Actually, we knew Bouchard could do this trick. Seeing it in competition today was impressive," a judge said. "It's an unconventional 1440 with an excellent grab. Although the landing wasn't perfect, we decided to reward the high degree of innovation."
A field of 60 riders was split into two heats of 30, with each athlete taking two runs under a simplified format—only their highest score counted. The top five from each heat advance to Saturday's final.
Su's teammate Ge Chunyu also secured a spot in the final with a 1980 spin, and high-rotation tricks dominated the session. All four Japanese qualifiers—Kira Kimura, Ryoma Kimata, Taiga Hasegawa and Yuto Miyamura—delivered 1980 rotations to claim their tickets to the final.
With the final set for this Saturday, riders will regroup at Secret Garden to battle for the season's first podium and set the tone for the months ahead.
Reference(s):
China's Su, Canada's Bouchard lead qualifiers at Big Air World Cup
cgtn.com
